Prewelt shoe and method of making the same



Dec. 21, 1943; G. A. MINER PREWEL'I SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Oct. 25, 1941 FigS Patented Dec. 21, 1943 PREWELT SHOE AND METEOR) F MAEHNG THE SAME George A. Miner, Beverly, -Mass.,

to United Shoe assignor Machinery Corporation; Flemington, N. 5., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 23, 1941, Serial No. 416,136

11 Claims.

This invention relates to prewelt shoes and methods of making the same and is herein illustrated in its application to the manufacture of that type of prewelt shoe in which the Welted margin of the upper is secured to a sole member such, for example, as a filler in the shoe bottom, thus making the shoe repairable.

In the past there have been numerous attempts to provide a prewelt shoe which could be repaired in the same manner as a shoe of Goodyear welt construction but thes attempts have failed because they have involved complicated and expensive methods of shoe construction which would put the cost of the shoe far beyond the limits generally recognized by prewelt shoe manufacturers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of making repairable prewelt shoes which would not involve any substantial increase in the cost of manufacture over present commercial types of prewelt shoes. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method well adapted to be employed in systems of prewelt shoe manufacture now in common use.

With the above objects in View, th present invention in one aspect thereof consists in amethod of making prewelt shoes which comprises holding a prewelt upper in lasted position with the bottom surface of the welt lying in a plane common to the adjacent marginal portion of the bottom face of a filler or other sole member on the last bottom and applying adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler, said adhesive, after it has set, providing a permanent connection from. the welt to the filler. The upper will preferably be lasted in a machine having lasting Wipers adapted to support the welt in the position best suited to the application of adhesive to the welt and filler, such a machine being illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,042,518, granted June 2, 1936, upon an application filed in the name of Karl Engel. In a further aspect thereof, the inven tion consists in treating the bottom surface of the outwardly extending portion of the welt of a prewelt upper witha cement, such, forexample, as latex, lasting the upper, applying adhesive to the welt and filler, as above described, applying a cover to said adhesiv to prevent contact of the adhesive With a sole, and provisionally bonding a sole to the cement-treated extension of the Welt. The Welt may be coated with latex in any known manner, for example, in accordance with the method set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 2,095,973, granted October 19, 1937,

on an application filed in the name of Joseph Fausse. While the method of the present invention is not limited to the useof any particular adhesive for connecting the welt to the filler. pyroxylin cement has been found well adapted for this purpose because of the strength and permanence of its bond and the unyielding though flexible character of the pyroXylin after it has set.

In another aspect thereof, the invention resides in a shoe construction having abutting marginal portions, certain surfaces of which lie in a common plane, said shoe construction being characterized by means herein illustrated as a band of pyroxylin securely connecting said marginal portions together, said pyroxylin band being secured to and xtending across the line of separation of the aforesaid surfaces of said marginal portions. Said shoe construction is further characterized by a sole, herein illustrated as an outsole, secured to the shoe bottom by fastenings, for example, a sewn seam, and not by said layer of adhesive. It will be understood that such a shoe may be readily repaired after the original outsole is Worn out. As herein illustrated, the invention is embodied in a prewelt shoe in which the pyroxylin band permanently secures the Welt to the filler.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective View illustrating the operation of applyin cement to the sole-attaching surface of the welt of a prewelt upper by means of a machine having cement-applying rolls;

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the application of pyroxylin cement to the bottom of a pre- Welt shoe held in lasted position by the wipers of a bed-lasting machine;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line III-J11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view, similar to Fig. 2, showing a fabric midsole on the shoe bottom;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation illustrating the cement attachment of an outsole to the welt by means of a pressure pad; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the margin of the fcrepart of a completed shoe, certain of the parts being shown separated from each other.

To provide a prewelt upper for use in the manufacture of shoes in accordance with the method of the present invention, a welt it (Fig. l) is secured to an upper 22 by a chainstitch seam M in the usual manner. To prepare the welt for cement attachment of a sole thereto, the welt is positioned between a welt-supporting roll it and a cement-applying roll l8 of a machine adapted to apply latex to the bottom or soleattaching face of the welt, the illustrated cementapplying roll It being arranged to coat that portion of the sole-attaching face of the welt between the outer edge face of the welt and the welt-attaching seam M, leaving the inner margin of the welt uncoated. After the welt has been cemented the upper is mounted on a last to the bottom of which there has been attached a filler it which is preferably made of sole leather. After the upper has been lasted, it is supported by its welt on the wipers 22 of the lasting machine, said wipers preferably completely surrounding the shoe in their overwiped position. The wipers upport the welt in a position such that its bottom or sole-attaching surface lies in a plane common to the plane of the adjacent marginal portion of 'ie bottom surface of the filler. While the Welt is thus supported, a layer of pyroxylin cement is applied to the adjacent margins of the bottom surfaces of the welt l and the filler 20 through a nozzle 24 which is connected by any suitable means to a source of pyroxylin cement. Referring to Fig. 3, the pyroxylin cement provides a band 26 of appreciable thickness overlying the adjacent margins of the welt and the filler and bridging the line of separation of said parts. After it has set, this band of cement provides a permanent connection from the welt to the filler. After pyroxylin cement has been applied about the entire margin of the shoe bottom, and while the cement is still in a fluid state, a sheet of thin fabric 28 having the shape of a shoe sole is placed on the shoe bottom in the position illustrated in Fig. l, in which position its edge registers with the seam it. This fabric serves to cover the band of pyroxylin cement while leaving the outwardly extending margin of the welt exposed for cement attachment to an outsole, for example, the outsole 33, illustrated in Figs. and 6. After the fabric piece has been applied to the shoe bottom and while the shoe remains in the lasting machine with the welt supported by the lasting wipers, the outsole 30 the margin of which has been coated with suitable adhesive is applied to the shoe bottom and bonded to the welt in any suitable manner, for example, by the application of pressure by means of a pad, such as the pad 32 illustrated in Fig. 5. The shoe is now removed from the lasting machine and the outsole is permanently secured to the Welt by a lockstitch seam 3d.

The fabric member 28 serves to prevent contact of the pyroxylin with the outsole and permits the removal of the outsole from the shoe bottom, after it has been worn out, by merely cutting the stitches 34. Thus, the shoe i repairable in the same manner as a shoe of Goodyear Welt construction. It is to be understood that the fabric member is not required to complete the attachment of the welt to the filler since the coating of pyroxylin, without the aid of th fabric member, provides a permanent connection strong enough to hold the Welt against the filler. In fact, the fabric member could be omitted if the pyroxylin were permitted to set before the outsole is laid.

While the invention is herein illustrated in its application to methods of making prewelt shoes wherein the outsole is permanently secured to the welt by stitches, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its scope to methods requiring the stitching of the outsole to the welt since the coating of pyroxylin could be employed to bond the outsole to the welt and filler by omitting the fabric member 28 and applying sufficient pressure to the outsole to cause the pyroxylin to bond said parts together permanently. It will be understood that the cement attachment of the outsole to the shoe bottom would require a wider band of pyroxylin than that illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6 and preferably the DV- roxylin would extend outwardly to the outer edge face of the welt.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises holding a prewelt upper in lasted position with the bottom face of the welt lying in a plane common to the adjacent marginal portion of the bottom face of a filler on the last bottom, and applying adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler, said adhesive after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler.

2. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises lasting a prewelt upper, supporting the welt by means of the lasting instrumentalities in a position in which the bottom face of the welt lies in a plane common to the adjacent margin of the bottom face of a filler on the last bottom, applying a strip of adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler, said adhesive after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler, and securing an outsole to the Welt.

3. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises lasting a prewelt upper by means of wiper plates which substantially surround the upper after the lasting operation has been performed and support the Welt with its bottom face lying in a plane common to the adjacent marginal portion of the bottom face of a filler on the last bottom, and while th upper is thus supported by the wipers, applying a strip of adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler about the entire periphery of the shoe bottom, said adhesive after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler.

4. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises treating the bottom surface of the outwardly extending portion of the welt of a prewelt upper with cement, lasting the upper, holding the upper in lasted position with the bottom surface of the welt lying in a plane common to the adjacent marginal portion of the bottom surface of a filler on the last bottom, applying adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom surfaces of the welt and the filler, said adhesive after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler, applying a cover to said adhesive to prevent contact of the adhesive with a sole, and cement at taching a sole to the welt.

5. That method of making shoes which comprises treating the bottom surface of the out wardly extending portion of the welt of a prewelt upper with cement, lasting the upper, holding the upper in lasted position with the bottom surface of the welt lying in a plane common to the adjacent margin of the bottom surface of a filler on the last bottom, applying adhesive in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom surfaces of the welt and th filler, applying a cover to said adhesive, provisionally attaching a sole to the welt by means of the cement applied to the outer margin of the welt, said cover preventing contact of the sole with said adhesive, and permanently securing the sole to the welt by fastenings.

6. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises holding a prewelt upper in lasted position by means ngaging the upper within the welt crease and supporting the welt with its bottom face in a plane common to the adjacent margin of the bottom face of a filler on the last bot tom, and while the upper is so held, applying pyroxylin cement in fluid form to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler, said pyroxylin cement after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler.

7. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises holding a prewelt upper in lasted position with the bottom face of the welt lying in a plane common to the adjacent marginal portion of the bottom face of a filler on the last bottom and flowing a heavy coating of adhesive upon the adjacent margins of the bottom surfaces of the welt and the filler, said adhesive after it has set providing a permanent connection from the welt to the filler.

8. A shoe having abutting marginal portions certain surfaces of which lie in a common plane, said shoe being characterized by mean securely connecting said marginal portions together comprising a layer of adhesive secured to and extending across the line of separation of the aforesaid surfaces of said marginal portions, and a sole secured to said marginal portion by fastenings and not by said layer of adhesive.

9. A shoe having a filler and a sole-attaching portion so arranged that the inner edge face of the sole-attaching portion abuts the edge face of the filler and the bottom face of the filler lies in a plane common to the bottom face of the sole-attaching portion, said shoe being characterized by means securely connecting the filler and the sole-attaching portion together comprising a layer of adhesive secured to and extending across the lin of separation of the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the filler and said sole-attaching portion, and a sole secured to said sole-attaching portion by fastenings and not by said layer of adhesive.

10. A prewelt shoe having a welt and a filler so arranged that the inner edge face of the welt abuts the edge face of the filler and the bottom face of the filler lies in a plane common to the bottom face of the welt, said shoe being characterized by means securely connecting the welt and filler together comprising a layer of adhesive material secured to and extending across the line of separation of the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and the filler, and a sole secured to the welt by stitches and not by said layer of adhesive.

11. A prewelt shoe characterized by a layer of pyroxylin cement applied to the adjacent margins of the bottom faces of the welt and a filler and extending across the line of separation of the welt and the filler, a cover for said pyroxylin cement, and an outsole stitched to the welt.

GEORGE A. MINER. 

